


Imaginary

by SpazTh3Kat



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Albinism, Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Bullying, Childhood Trauma, Imaginary Friends, M/M, Prostitution, Sadstuck, So much angst, Teen Guardian, rating will go up when we get to the smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-29
Updated: 2014-09-24
Packaged: 2018-02-10 22:58:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2043444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpazTh3Kat/pseuds/SpazTh3Kat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So first fic ive ever posted, sorry if it sucks. Dave is in a terrible car accident on his first day if First Grade, leaving him without his loving parents and in the care of his older brother. Dirk is forced to quit high school and abandon all hopes of college. More then anything Dirk wants to keep his little brother, at any cost. Dave, bullied constantly for his albinism and is constantly alone at home with his brother working so hard, makes an unlikely friend and his world starts looking up. Bleh summaries also suck.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

You clutch tightly to her hand as she leads you to the familiar minivan, right in step behind your father. A tall, tanned, blonde, he looks over a broad shoulder to smile brightly at you, his eyes crinkling at the corners, and you can't help smiling in return. He goes to start the vehicle while your mother buckles you in diligently before she stokes your hair lovingly. Her lips curl into a smile revealing prominent dimples as she kisses your cheek. She shuts your door, and gets into her seat next to your father. She squeezes his hand lovingly and he pulls out of the parking lot of your dingy elementary school, you're on your way to pick up your big brother. He's just so cool, you can feel your excitement growing.

You turn your attention back to the front seat and your parents. They are casually discussing work and plans for the weekend, you might be going to a movie, cool! You notice that the roads are relatively empty as your parents pull onto the highway. A comfortable silence lapses between them and your mother turns the radio on. Suddenly you notice your father looking at you through the rear view mirror and you smile brightly at him. His attention snaps back to the road suddenly and he yanks the steering wheel to one side, desperately trying to avoid the oncoming car that had drifted into your lane. In his haste he drove the car directly into one of the ditches lining the highway. To your horror you have full view of your mother's distorted body against the shattered windshield. She refused to wear her seat belt, as you recall. Thought it was ridiculous that the government thought they had to keep you safe. Now her startlingly vivid purple eyes stared at you hollowly while her shoulders faced forward.

“Daddy?” you call out softly, silently praying for an answer.

You quickly unbuckle the harness or your car seat and tumble forward against his seat, which was now directly under you. You peak around the seat and have to pull back to keep from puking. The airbag had popped out of his steering wheel, while his arm was crossed in front of it, snapping the arm at the elbow with enough force to split the radius, forcing a section of it through the skin, which then lodged in your father's windpipe. You could see a bit of it poking out of the back of his neck. A wave of panic runs through you and you claw at your door, desperate to open it and get away. This goes on for a moment before you realize its still locked and you chide yourself silently. You open the door and run a good distance away before turning your back on the vehicle and falling to your knees as sobs racked your small for. Before too long a police officer arrives on the seen and rushes to your side. He wraps an arm around you and asks in a clam voice if you can tell him who you are.

It takes a while before you can stop crying enough to answer him. Your name is Dave Strider. Your name is Dave Strider and today is going all wrong. Today was special. It was your first day of real school and you were supposed to pick up your brother and order pizza and watch your favorite movie, your dad said so.


	2. Chapter 2

When you're called to the principal's office you're sure they've finally picked up on the ai you coded into the school mainframe. This cant be good. You're sent directly into his office by a sad looking secretary and fight the urge to run when you see the police officers. Instead you calmly sit on the only available chair in the unexpectedly cramped office with a blank face. The principal wears the same sad look as the secretary. This really can't be good. You've only been in school a week. Seriously, no arrestable offenses here officers.

After a moment one of the officers steps forward and places a hand on your shoulder and proceeds to pull the world out from under your feet. Your face remains impassive while internally your mind whirls a million miles an hour. How are you going to take care of Dave? Dave, oh god he was there. He saw it. A sudden need to hold him overwhelms you and you stand, demanding they take you to him, in a strained shaking voice. You sound pathetic but you can't bring yourself to care. 

By now the final bell had rung and the officers lead you through the masses of teenagers to the back of a waiting police car. You keep your head down but you can feel their eyes on you. Thinking for sure you were being arrested. You cant blame them, you had had the same initial thought. You sit in the back of the car and stare at your hands during the drive. As hard as you try you cant unclench your first, your knuckles long since gone white and your hands were beginning to tremble with the exertion of force. The car comes to a stop and the officer opens the door for you with a look of pity before leading you inside. 

When you see him the full magnitude of the situation hits you, it really is just you two. You can't turn to anyone else. You're alone in the world with your six year old brother. Your mind pulls the silver lining out of nowhere that at least your eighteen. They can't take him from you. Not without cause at least. Your birthday was last month. 

Immediatly you go over to him and scoop him into your arms. He's so fucking little. You run your hands through his shock of white hair while watery red eyes stair up at you.

“Hey little dude, you ready to go home?” Your voice is even and strong, comforting. He nods his head briskly and buries his face into your shoulder, something you've only ever seen him do with dad. Well you guess you'll just have to try to be the father figure from now on.

You ask the officer if there is anything else they need from you, and they say they'll call if anything comes up. The same cop that drove you to the station volunteers to drive you home and you gratefully accept. You tell him where you live while you climb into the back seat, refusing to let Dave go. You card your fingers through his soft locks, rocking slightly, while your mind drifts. After a while you look down and see that your brother has fallen asleep on your chest. 

Soon you arrive at your comfortable suburban home and carry Dave inside, tucking him in. You know very well that there is no way you can afford to keep this place. Besides, you don't think you could bare all the memories of your parents. You spend the next few hours gathering up all the unnecessary valuables, your mother's jewelry, gaming systems and the like, planning on taking them to the pawn shop the next day. All the while you're deep in thought, a loop running over and over. What could you do? You had to find work, but you didn't even have a high school diploma. The only thing that pulls you out of these thoughts is the constant, annoying ringing in your ears. You locate the source as the ringing finally dies down. Your cell phone. It must have been ringing for a while, 12 missed call, all but one of them from Jake. You'll call the unknown number tomorrow, but Jake now, you could use a little familiarity. 

Just as you're about to call back the phone rings in your hands, and you answer.

“Sup,” you say calmly into the receiver, but it sounds strained, a forced calmness in your voice. You don't like it.

He lets out a sigh and you can practically feel the relief wash over him.

“Dirk, are you all right? I heard what happened, and I'm so sorry. Can I come over?” he says all of this in that quick way you know means hes upset, and a small smile tugs at the corners of your lips at his concern.

“Sure man, you know the address.”

“Alright, well, I'll be over soon then, see you.” And with that he hangs up. 


	3. Chapter 3

By the time that Jake arrives you've run out of busy work and are simply sitting in the living room planning your and Dave's financial future. Sure the prospect of selling the house is daunting, especially if it means having to go through all of your parent's things, but it should give a pretty substantial amount, enough to find a place, and buy groceries for a while, and anything Dave might need. Maybe it'll be enough for you to be able to finish high school while working part time.   
Now that you have had time to analyze the situation, you're significantly less panicked.

You hear Jake let himself in, having already unlocked the door for him, you stand as he enters and immediately hes wrapping his arms around you. 

Instead of asking painful questions or treading carefully when speaking to you, he just acts like everything is normal, like perhaps you hadn't seen each other in a while. He sits you down on the couch and rushes off to your room to gather “important stuff”, and returns with an armload of blankets and pillows. After arranging everything to his liking, he picks an awful movie, you don't even pay attention to the title sequence, his movements captivating your attention fully. 

He sits next to you after turning out the lights and waits all but a minute before cheesily yawning and stretching his arm around you. You move to where your head rests on his chest while blue skinned women move elegantly on your television, immediately comforted by the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. It felt normal, like any other night, and very suddenly you felt sick to your stomach at the thought that things might change, that you might never be able to spend another night like this one. 

Jake shifted suddenly and there was a calloused thumb wiping your cheek, and you realize you're crying for a second time today. He runs his fingers through your hair while you shake silently, and the more you cry, the more you become frustrated and angry with yourself, you're supposed to be the strong one, you have to be the strong one, for Dave, for Jake, for yourself. Soon after your breathing has evened out, the movie ended and Jake shuts off the t.v. He holds you in the darkness, rocking slowly back and forth. 

Eventually his movements slow and his breathing begins to deepen and you whisper into the darkness three simple words, thinking he wouldn't hear you. His grip tightens around you and he replies softly, “I know.” 

At that moment, with Jake by your side, you feel like you could take on the world, and quickly you fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. 


	4. Chapter 4

Its still early dusk when you're pulled from your sleep by the terrified shrieking of your little brother. You disentangle yourself from Jake and rush to his bedroom, the bright red walls looking particularly foreboding in the dimness. He's sitting up, eyes wide, clutching at his card suit sheets and panting. He doesn't even seem to notice you when you enter, he just sits, blankly staring at the wall, shaking.

You wrap him in your arms and rock back and forth gently, until he comes back from the hell he's experiencing. You don't even have to ask what it was, in all likely hood he was probably expecting your mother to come in and comfort him from his nightmare, and you can't help but feeling like a disappointment.

You sit like this for a while, and you can't help but be a little proud that he wasn't crying, until his alarm for school starts going off. You move to turn it off, when he gets up and walks toward his closet. 

“You don't have to go to school today, Dave, its okay.” 

“I'm going”, is all he replied, in his soft little shaking voice. The voice that makes you want to make everything better for him, even if you can't. 

You leave him to get ready and rouse Jake, telling him you'll drop him off at school when you take Dave. He smiles sleepily at you and kisses you softly on the cheek before heading to the bathroom. You sort of wish you could go with him today, but you know you have to get things in order before you can recommit to your school life, make sure everything is set for you and Dave. 

You drop off Jake and then drive Dave to school, he hasn't said anything all morning, and you can't help being worried about him. You walk him inside, and his teacher gives him a strange, concerned look, clearly not expecting him back so soon, you say goodbye to Dave and are met with silence. Just before you reach your dingy old truck, your phone starts ringing, the same number as yesterday. 

“Hello?” 

“Yeah, is this Strider?” The man on the other line has a gruff voice, a smoker. 

“It is, and who's calling?” You obviously don't know this man, and he really doesn’t sound the friendliest guy. 

“I represent an acquaintance of your father's and we need to meet to discuss financial matters. Today. You know where the felt is?” 

“The pool hall?” 

“That's the one, be there in an hour.” With that he hung up. Despite the man's rough demeanor, Dirk couldn't help but be a little hopeful, of course his father had made arrangements for if anything had happened. He wouldn't leave him and Dave totally on their own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this has all kinda been build up to the point where i actually want the story to be. I'm horrible with frequent updates, so i apologize. I've gotten one comment so far and it absolutely made my day, so not to sound needy but please? :b  
> Thanks for reading


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